Spec me an impulse buy smart watch

Relentless81

Relentless81

Relentless81

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Joined
18 May 2010
Posts
12,850
Hi,

I'm off today and I've been thinking about getting a smart watch mainly for the fitness features so I can keep an eye on my health.

I haven't looked into them as much as I would have liked and I'm not sure if I want a fitness tracker or a smart watch if I mainly want the fitness side of things, phone notifications would be handy but not hugely important.

My phone is a OnePlus Nord if that helps, if I was to pick something up today with a max budget of £140 and a focus on fitness and health what should I go for is there anything that stands out above the rest? There's a lot of choice!



Thanks
 
Depending what kind of fitness activities (if any) you plan on doing, I just bought a Garmin 645 from Argos a few days ago and am really impressed with it so far. I want to start running regularly, so I bought it primarily to track that, though there are other profiles like treadmill, strength training and others. It's quick to lock onto GPS, pairs easily with the phone app (which you can then link to others like Strava) with lots of nitty gritty fitness data to analyse, and my main reason for choosing this model in particular is I can load music/podcasts directly onto the watch and leave my phone at home, then when I get home it syncs the workout I just did.

Battery life does suffer drastically if you use GPS and music together though (I bought it on Monday, went out with it 3 times so far for about 1hr each time, and it's gone from 100% to about 50%).

It's £200 from Argos, so a bit over your budget, though I think you can probably find it cheaper online. Plus there are other cheaper Garmin models available too.
 
Thanks, yes the running stuff is helpful I'm starting to get into running but the music I'm not fussed about. I'll have a look at the Garmin stuff in my price range I'm just stood outside John Lewis now like a consumerist sheep waiting for it to open
 
I started of with a Google watch (Android Wear), moved to a Samsung Galaxy Watch and now settled on a Huawei GT2e.

Problem with the first two watches, they needed to be charged every other day. With the Huawei I charge it once a fortnight.

I started wearing a smartwatch for phone notifications, which meant I could keep the phone on silent while at work, and not miss calls and messages when I forgot to disable silent mode after work.

I still used the phone to reply to messages, it was just easier. I didn't need the ability to answer calls and reply to messages on a watch, just notifications and a long battery life. The fitness features on the watch with the app on the phone are great with lots of info, and you can actually use the watch as a sleep tracker because it's not in a dock charging overnight :)

The price on Amazon regularly dropped to low £100s, and sometimes a scale would be bundled free if buying directly from Huawei. Which makes it good value for a first watch to try and wouldn't be too stressful if damaged, lost or stolen.
 
I got my kids 'cheap' chinese smart bands - and they're both incredibly impressive for what they cost. When compared to the fitbit my wife has (which cost considerably more) - I'm really not sure why it would be worth spending more.

I got one the Honor Band 5 and the other the Xiaomi Mi Band 5. They're both very similar. Out of the two I would probably say the Xiaomi would be my preference due to the magnetic charger.
 
I was expecting more choice in the stores to be honest but there's isn't much at all in my price range apart from fitbits and the the Garmin 45

Surprised you need a sub for the Fitbit, doesn't look like I'll be getting anything today so I'll have another look at some of the above suggestions and buy elsewhere

Starting to lean more toward a cheaper fitness tracker than a smart watch because I don't need all the smart watch features, would rather a higher end fitness tracker but definitely no monthly subscriptions so fitbits are out
 
What sort of bloatware is needed to run one of these Huawei watches? I'm not interested in any fitness, just notifications from email, WhatsApp, messages calls etc.
I've got a Samsung active watch at the moment, but the screen keeps having a flashing fit when in daylight, and it needs charging every night.
 
Huawei Health for the Honor / Huawei.
Mi Fit for the Xiaomi.

From your post - I don't think one of these fitness bands is for you. Stick to Samsung.
 
OP Here, turns out my parents got me a traditional watch for my Birthday which was an unexpected surprise so now I'm looking at a Fitness Tracker specifically as an everyday watch and fitness tracker but the choice is driving me insane

I've ruled out Fitbit, Im not paying any subs
I've ruled out Xiaomi, Honor and Huawei because I believe they make you install carrier services for their apps to work although I might be wrong here so please let me know how wrong I am
Garmin's line up looks pretty poor I dont like the look of the bands

Leaves me with not a lot of really! If there is anything I've missed that's worth looking at please let me know. For a fitness tracker only I've dropped my budget to £60

Thanks
 
Despite what you may have read - which may apply to older versions, for the current Xiaomi and Honor/Huawei bands you just install their health app.

For Xiaomi it's Mi Fit.
For Honor/Huawei it's Huawei Health.

Both apps are available through Google Play Store. No other services or installations required. Both apps are decent and of the quality you'd expect from multi national mega companies - not your sketchy chinese rubbish.
 
Bug One said:
Despite what you may have read - which may apply to older versions, for the current Xiaomi and Honor/Huawei bands you just install their health app.

For Xiaomi it's Mi Fit.
For Honor/Huawei it's Huawei Health.

Both apps are available through Google Play Store. No other services or installations required. Both apps are decent and of the quality you'd expect from multi national mega companies - not your sketchy chinese rubbish.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that does increase the choice but it's odd that someone reviewed one (can't remember which I've read that many) that stated it was trying to force him to install mobile services or the app wouldn't install, maybe he was doing something wrong but I don't want any unwanted bloat on my phone so will have to return it if it turns out to be the case.

I'm looking at them again but still struggling to pick one even with those three brands added to the mix
 
After taking advice in the smartwatch thread I bought the Ticwatch Pro 3 last week and I'm not disappointed, it is on Amazon now for £220.
It is WearOS so uses Android type apps and it's also got a very fast processor.
It is well worth a look over anything else.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
After taking advice in the smartwatch thread I bought the Ticwatch Pro 3 last week and I'm not disappointed, it is on Amazon now for £220.
It is WearOS so uses Android type apps and it's also got a very fast processor.
It is well worth a look over anything else.
Click to expand...

Is there a band version? I'll have a look. I'm not after a full blown smart watch anymore after receiving an unexpected mechanical watch for my Birthday
 
If your after a fitness/sports watch - buy a garmin.

You can get a forerunner 45 for £120 if you have a bluelight card or similar.
 
Last edited:
Begbie said:
If your after a fitness/sports watch - buy a garmin.

You can get a forerunner 45 for £120 if you have a bluelight card or similar.
Click to expand...

Thanks but I'm something more lighter and comfortable, I also struggle to see what the Garmin stuff does to warrant the price difference over some of the cheaper alternatives and their bands have tiny screens

The form factor of the Xiaomi bands is more what I'm after small but with a decent screen but I'm willing to spend a bit more for the better features although I'm not bothered about GPS
 
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